Identify the pest in your garden, then deal with it

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Is summer beginning to bug you? If not, it will soon. You put in all that hard work in the spring preparing the ground, conscientiously selecting your flowers and vegetables, carefully planting them in just the right spot, stepping back and admiring your efforts and for what? To have rude little invaders feasting before you do. Who are these party crashers?

Stink Bugs

Stink bugs are “True Bugs” shaped somewhat like a warrior’s shield. The stink bug is recognized easily by its distinct “aroma” used to fend off predators. Much like skunks, they don’t have to move quickly they just turn and spray (actually they just dribble).

Stink bugs can’t bite although, if provoked, they may [filtered word] you with their mosquito-like beak. This same beak is used to pierce tomato skins and suck out juices. Small, golden-yellow, pink, or white spots appear on the tomato and are known as “cloudy spot”. Heavy feeding will cause the spots to enlarge and give the tomato a golden color. Hard, whitish, callous tissue develops beneath the skin at the wound site.

The stink bugs will be gone before you notice the damage so control measures are impractical or impossible. Fortunately, the feeding period of stink bugs is short and the fruit is still safe to eat even if it looks a little funny.

Squash Bugs

Squash bugs are dark gray to dark brown shield-shaped bugs that feed on plants the same way stink bugs do only they are more destructive. They suck the life out of the plant or squash. Their feeding causes yellow spots that eventually turn brown. The feeding also disrupts the flow of water and nutrients, which can cause the plant to wilt.

Squash bugs mainly feed on pumpkins, squash and some cucumbers. It is all but impossible to kill the adults so it is very necessary to inspect your plants for infestation and to treat the immature bugs. Squash bugs lay eggs on the underside of the leaves, especially between the veins where they form a V. Eggs might also be deposited on stems. Eggs will be laid from early June through mid-summer. Eggs hatch in about 10 days. Nymphs (immature bugs) require about four to six weeks to become adults.

There are several things you can do to control squash bugs.

1. If you have just a few plants you can remove or knock off and kill nymphs and adults by dropping them into a pail of soapy water. Watch for those hiding under the leaves.

2. Crush the eggs.

3. Trap squash bugs by laying out boards or pieces of newspaper. The bugs will congregate under the boards at night, and then can be collected and destroyed in the morning.

4. Remove plant debris around the garden during the growing season to reduce the potential hiding spots.

5. Apply insecticides if plants are found wilting early in the season due to squash bugs.

The best time to apply insecticides is during low bee activity early in the morning or late at night. Be sure to spray under the leaves. Use products with at least one of these active ingredients: carbaryl, permethrin, rotenone, or methoxychlor. Be sure the label indicates the safety of use on your vegetables or fruits and double check the number of days to observe before harvest.

Japanese Beetle Vs Green June Beetle

Northeast Kansas has been invaded by the Japanese beetle. We are no longer the exception. They are extremely destructive pests. The “white grub” stage is a serious turf pest. The adults attack a wide host of nearly 300 plant species including fruits, vegetables, farm crops, ornamentals, trees and shrubs. I am writing about them now because they are being misidentified. People are seeing the Green June beetle and thinking they have Japanese beetles.

Japanese beetles have a brilliant metallic green coloring and wing covers with a copper-brown/bronzish tinge. They have five vertical bands of white hair tufts that look like five white spots on each side of the abdomen and a pair of white hair tufts on the dorsal surface of the last abdominal segment. They are active daytime flyers and feed gregariously.

Green June beetles have a green almost velvety coloration when viewed from above and a coppery metallic “underbelly”. They are daytime fliers and big eaters. Green June beetles produce an audible buzz similar to buzzing bees, but they do not sting or bite. They are larger that Japanese beetles, but much less destructive.

Note: The Shawnee County Extension Master Gardeners present, “Vegetable Problems, Diseases and Pests” at the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library on June 26 at 7:00pm. Learn about what is “doing in” your veggies and what to do about it.

Note: The Annual Sick Plant Clinic will take place at the Fairlawn Plaza Mall on July 7th. KSU Specialists will be available from 10-3 to answer your gardening questions and help with your gardening problems. Watch for more information in future editions of At Home Living.